The King's Bedroom
by Thumette
Summary: "When she sees the King, she is disappointed" Stolen moments from the life of Bethany Bracken
1. Barba

Hey - this is a translation of my fic, originally written in French : _La chambre du roi_. As English is not my mother's tongue there may be some mistakes. My deepest apologies.

* * *

 ** _I - Barba_**

 _1._

She is in the gallery when they come looking for her

 _Bethany, Bethany_ they call, but she doesn't turn round. _Come Aegor, let's run,_ she seizes the child by the hand and he laughs as she drags him on the stairs. _Bethany!_ and she reaches the sacred wood behind the yard, laughing too, dishevelled, red with sweat. She already knows the news.

The Bracken's sacred wood is clear and well maintained, more like a pleasure garden, probably to mark the difference with the dark wood which serves as a place of worship for the neighbouring Blackwood. _They sacrifice children to their Tree_ , she remembers, _at dusk when the crows crash_ (it's only a woman tale, she knows it, but she likes the idea).

One day, she asks her sister what will happen to Missy and her children, once she has taken her place, and her sister answers, half laughing, _well, they can always use the kids to feed their Tree_. She adds perfidiously, _it seems that the son of the bitch is of the same color as their piece of wood, we would find there a certain usefulness, I'm sure Aegon wouldn't be against the idea_. Barba is very proud to know that all Missy has managed to give to the king, as children, are two girls and some kind of degenerated runt when, her own son is already tall, strong and beautiful.

 _The king comes to Stone Hedge_ , she tells him in the silent garden. Behind them, the heart tree laughs at her.

 _2_.

Maybe Barba loves her bastard, as a memory of Aegon, as the proof by her eyes that she was loved, that she was queen (almost). She asks herself whether she fails, _will Barba still cherish him, or will he become a painful memory, of failure and of shame. An embarrassing element in the scenery._ She thinks of her own children, of her bastards to come. _What are they going to do with them?_ Sometimes she hugs tightly little Aegor against her until he chokes, imagining that he's her own son. _What will they do with me when the king is tired?_

 _3._

 _The bitch has played well_ , explains Barba. _Aegon loves change, whore or prude, noble or commoner, he takes them all. But to play the frightened maiden, she has found herself allies on the right side,_ she sniffs. _They must be glad that they have placed their creature in the king's bed._

("They" are their enemies, the milk blood, the dornishmen, the maesters, the Blackwood, and the whole queens and prince's Daeron clique, _my enemies_ , she remembers.) Barba has made her a thousand times the portrait of the prince: limp, weak, submissive to women, (his mother, and his foreign wife). She maintains for him, the queen and her knight, a particular hatred. It was they who had her place and her reputation. Almost her head, she sneers. _The prince is the worst, he hides his game well. A hypocrite-born, the very opposite of his father, to wonder who has actually begotten him,_ she entrusts her once _. Beware Bethany, Aegon can love you, and he will love you, but he will never be yours, not totally. A real dragon won't be tamed._

Bethany wonders if Barba still loves him, despite the time, despite the distances and wounds, as she once loved him, when she wrote him, _he is my sun, he is my joy, he's the only thing I need and if I were to lose him, I'd die of grief._ She knows that her sister suffers from seeing him thus corrupted and aged, when she had for her the young knight, the soldier of Dorne's conquest. (She knows that she holds Melissa Nerbosc responsible for that too.) _She castrated him with her prayers, her charities, her false piety, she and her clique of hypocrite. They castrated him better to rule behind his back. They wanted to split his claws, but they did not realize that he is the real dragon, all those bloodmilk, those dornish dogs, and he is going to show them._ (She looks at her seriously _), you are going to show them!_

 _4._

 _Her children shall be her downfall_ proclaims Barba. _The cow likes to procreate, and Aegon is always proud of his bastards, but he is quickly jealous too. She clings to it, it seems she is crazy. He gets tired of it. If he comes it means he is already tired,_ she adds.

Her father tells her: _The Lothston wants to make her daughter the next mistress, she does not have an inch of your own beauty, we must bar her the way. But she is the Aegon's daughter,_ she thinks, scared. _Is that what awaits my children?_ She prays harder for a little boy. The _king will not take any interest in Jeyne Lothston_ , says her sister, _he likes to play his little game between us_.

 _We, the Bracken and the Blackwood, a family in themselves,_ laughs Bethany _._ They live together, never seeing each other, their presences haunting every single of their gestures. _All kings have their own cruel games._ She wonders if Missy has got a little sister trained to please Aegon. _Maybe it will be the role of one of her daughters._

Bethany also wonders where is the limit between the truth of Barba's memories, and the myth she has made of her former lover, on nights when she cries to find her sleep. Those when she drinks one glass too many. (This is unworthy of Lord Bracken's eldest daughter, but in the eyes of the Riverlords _she is already lost.)_

 _5._

 _Soon you may have cousins whom to play with_ , she says distractedly, _would you like that Aegor?_  
He gives her a serious look of his purple eyes, before nodding solemnly, _that would be splendid_. She laughs and ruffles his black mop of hair. _Your father rides to see you_.

 _Actually, h_ _e comes to see you,_ Barba corrects, her eyes fixed on her neck _,_ and Bethany feels a shiver running down her spine. _Or would it be for you, big sister?_


	2. Aegor

**_II - Aegor_**

 _1._

When she sees the king, she is disappointed. He is fat, slurred. His double chin is crumbling with fat. He has almost as much breast as she has. His purple eyes are lighter than Aegor's and less beautiful.

Her father bows before him. She looks at Barba, but her expression is indecipherable.  
Bethany stands behind Aegor. The king raises him in the air, laughing, and the kid smiles. _You're going to be a warrior._ He rests him, and he crosses her gaze. Bethany does not lower her head.

 _2._

She is naked in her bedroom. She has just taken a bath with rose petals, and the smell is in the whole room. Barba examines her skin. _You're not as pale as a Blackwood, but so much the better, it gives you a fair complexion_. She pinches a nipple. _Your breasts are small_ , she comments, _smaller than mine_ , she adds satisfied. _They can still grow_ , she answers.

She's like a replica of Barba, her improved version, _and she knows it_. She went through learning all the habits, all the little manias, the phobias of the king. She knows his favorite color, his favorite perfume, his favorite dish, his favourite song, his favourite position. And then, there is another side to his education, a more _practical_ side. _The king's whore_ , said her uncle one day, _you are training her to become the king's whore_. They did not see him again at Stone hedge. He has two sons who would be of the age of Aegor.

 _Do not yield to him_ , said Barba, _not tonight. I know_ , says Bethany. She knows her business.

 _3._

She does not leave Aegor, after all it is he whom the king came to see, and the king must see _her_. He seems to be charmed by the kid, laughs as he runs down a staircase with his little wooden sword, and bumps into the wagon of the farrier below. _It is quite me at his age_ , he says. _Aegon loves her bastards_ , she remembers. His conversation bores him, he talks to him about politics and the dornish scourge. Sometimes he makes compliments, so she runs away after the little boy, and, as usual, they arrive, out of breath and laughing in the sacred wood.

From the elevated gallery, the king looks down at them and he smiles.

 _4._

He finds her funny, he finds her beautiful. She got him, without joy but with jubilation. She has long been waiting for this moment

He picks up bouquets for her. He travels the lands of the Bracken, hunts with lords of the Riverlands, flirts with the peasant women, and comes back with large armfuls of wild flowers, which he arranges with taste. _Where did he learn that?_ He is not handsome, but he has honed his compliments to women. Sometimes she gets caught unaware.

Some days, he takes Aegor with him, (Bethany devotes himself to accompany the kid, as Barba feels indisposed). She rides gracefully, often outstrips the convoy, and lets the king catch her up in the middle of a flowery meadow. Men make rude jokes; she escapes with the kid, teaches him to plait crowns of daisies, so that she can arrange them in her hair when the king finds them.

 _My father likes you_ , says Aegor. _He wants me_ , but she winks and lets him slip a wild rose in his braid.

 _How cheerful you are!_ says Aegon to her. _It is the privilege of the cadets_ she says, _the gift of carelessness_. _My brother is younger than me, yet he is not so happy_ , replies the king.

 _5._

She is naked in her bedroom, royal sperm on her thigh. He did not penetrate her, not yet. She knows how to make herself desired piece after piece. A first gift for her departure from Stone Hedge. As for the king, he offered her a diamond necklace, and the Handship for her father. (He kisses her tenderly on the cheek, _I'm proud of you my daughter_ ).

Barba and Aegor do not come. Her sister wanted to give them the kid, but the king hesitated. _The kid stays_ , slices Aegon. _He loves his children only from afar, or he is afraid of his eldest son?_ She says goodbye to him, and he is careful not to cry. _I'll come to see you, or you will visit us._ _(Soon he will do whatever I want!)_

Her sister doesn't smile. Bethany thinks she's jealous. _Do not dream_ , she said, _remember your place_.


	3. Aegon

**_III - Aegon_**

 _1._

She is offended upon seeing that Blackwood has not yet fled court. She plans to make a scene for the king, but curiosity prevails: she asks to see the old woman and her children. Aegon hates the scenes, unless of course it is he who organizes them. He is delighted by the idea of a confrontation between his new mistress and the old one.

Seated next to Aegon, adorned with a magnificent necklace of rubies, Bethany looks at her rival. She finds her as flat as a board, despite her three successive deliveries. _She is not as beautiful as my sister_ she concludes, satisfied. She looks at the kids then. The elder is a mini-replica of her mother, the following has got pale hair and is very thin, as for the youngest ... Bethany confesses that she's disappointed. She was hoping for a real monster, but it is more like a coloration accident, at a push the red eyes have something beast-like. Bethany decides that the prettiest of the kids is still the eldest, because she does not like blond hair. _Careful girl_ , whispers her sister's voice.

Actually this meeting is not very thrilling. A pure waste of time. She lets her eyes wander through the room. She observes, amused, a knight leering a lady dressed in green, not very beautiful besides. His neighbour, in white armour, is quite charming, he smiles at her.

 _May we withdraw your grace?_ She blenches. Missy Blackwood looks at her. Bethany supports this look, where she would like to detect hatred, jealousy. She sees in it nothing but worry; _She's worrying about me_. She flushes. _Yes, yes, leave_ , she replies in the king's stead. The room whispers, but Aegon laughs, charmed by her impertinence. Missy grabs the hands of her son and of the blonde girl, then leaves the room. Bethany's father chuckles, delighted. The next day the Blackwood have left court.

 _2._

She has got the biggest diamonds of the Court. When her father meets her, he kisses her on the forehead. Every night she offers something to the king, a new piece of her, another smile, a new expression, a new story. Sometimes she says no, and she locks herself up in her apartments to make herself wanted, while he goes to the whores. She gets a bath and she falls asleep in it, dreaming of being clean.

She gets bored, she organizes parties, rides, fireworks. She learns dances. She sings. She is offered the jewels of others. She's still bored.

 _They probably speak ill of me_. But the queen prays, the prince is at Draonstone, and in any case, it is not her politics, it is her father's; it is not her money, it is the king's. _Let him throw it out of the window if he likes it._

 _3._

They are at a ball, and the king does not dance. _It tires him now that he's so fat_. Barba and Aegon danced, until the middle of the night. But Bethany is not offended. As long as he lets her have fun. The king watches her laughing, and takes pleasure in seeing her twirling.

A knight of the kinsguard asks him for a dance. She stares at him and says _no_. _You look like a Blackwood_. He arches his eyebrows in surprise. _What do you mean?_ _You've got black hair, and dark eyes. It is a face of Dornishman that you describe there,_ he says laughingly, _I am no Dornishman, thanks be given to the Seven._ _Where do you come from? The Toyne house is one of the ancient houses of the Storm Lands,_ he says proudly. _Doesn't matter_ , _the knights of the kingsguard do not dance_ , she says, and turns her back on him to go to join the king.

I do not like this feast, she says; Aegon offers her to retire to his apartments. From the corner of her eye she observes the knight, and wonders if all the dornishmen are so beautiful.

 _4._

She dreams that she is at Stone Hedge, in a field of daisies. She imagines herself nestled in her bed, listening to the stories of Florian and Jonquil. She's a little girl. She reinvents Aegon as a handsome knight, like his brother. _Naerys has got her dragon knight and me then?_ _Do you think that one day a knight will make me his lady, to protect me from all dangers?_ She asks Aegor in the middle of the meadow. _Hey, what about me!_ the little boy protests. She blows a dandelion on her face; stretches out to watch the clouds pass.

 _You're just an idiot_ , Barba says. She closes her eyes.

 _5._

Un Homme court vers elle et dépose son manteau blanc sur ses épaules. Il ne la regarde pas, il ne lui parle pas, et elle l'en remercie. Il reste avec elle sous la pluie, et ils sentent tous deux les longues gouttes qui enlacent leur nuques, comme un gigantesque baiser glacé.

 _He is fat and he reeks of sweat and wine_ , that's all she can think of. She rejects him and he takes it for a game. He finally fucks her, leaving a big task on the sheets, then falls asleep on the bed.  
She leaves the room running. She swallows her lip. At the Sept the queen is praying with the dragon knight, but she turns her head on seeing her (Bethany and her torn dress, and her hair sticky and damp). She leaves not to see pity flooding the eyes of Naerys. She hates them, the queen, the knight, her father, the king, the prince, the city. She runs in the rain, without romanticism, but because there is no one in the middle of the mud. She sees the tower of her hand and she cries. _Aegon hates that_ , she remembers.

A man runs towards her and lays his white mantle on her shoulders. He does not look at her, he does not speak to her, and she thanks him for it. He stays with her in the rain, and they both feel the long drops that entwines their necks, like a gigantic icy kiss.


End file.
